The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1887-06-29
MISS voKEs' DRESS REFORM
she Invents Novelty In the Construction
of skirts
New York World

Rosina VOkes has some of the best ideas |
On comfortable dress that any woman could |
possibly have, but she always distinctly ]
declines TO be spoken OF as urging her ideas |
upon any but professional women, behev- |
ing that the way women in private life
eress is nobody's affair but their own.
these same ideas are worth
One OF Miss Vokes' recent talks on the
subject began with a remark as to how
impossible il is for an actress to dress q
character part with absolute correctness as
to period. Imagine" said she, "a heroine
in q cIinoline and poke bonnet fsinting on
a couch and rolling of upon the floor in
the latest fashion Would an audience
hold It's breath in sympathy and horror, do
you think? Or imagine girl In steeple'
crowned hat shyly hiding her head IN
mans neck2 The feathers in his nose and
ears would simply drive him wild. l sup
pose girls in real life nowadays must make
love, but they certainly must take of their
hats to do II"
"But when you laugh at crinoline, Miss
Vokes, do you mean 10 advocate all Greek
draperies and loose things for the stage2"
mo, no. Not at all. What l mean is
moderation. 1 mean that il Is not neces-
saIy for an actress to 60 into the extensive
fashions CT period to suggest that period
to the audience. No woman who has ever
amounted to any thing on the stage but
who has had considerable originality OF her
own. aud that originality has kept her
great many times from the mistake of fol-
lowing the old fashion plates and losing the
sympathy OF her audience. OF course, il is
a severe criticism on woman's dress as il
has been and as il Is that it has to be modified
or people will boot, but the fact remains
the same, and any one who wishes to carry
the house with them in any serious passage
can not afford to be bampered by lot Of
ridiculous clothes. Dresses, l suppose,
have got to stand out for quite while TO
come, or else be voted 'dowdy,' bat on the
material itself, and not any arrangement of
steels and wires"
And now for the crucial question: "Miss
Vokes, do you believe in stays, as you
English women call them?"
II wear them myself-soft, easy, COM
Portable ones-and / do not see why any
woman in the world should not. 1t is not
necessary TO hurt ones self with them any
more than il is with anything else. 1t Is
only when a woman loses ner commo
sense that she gets any injury ia that way.
What ! object to, when a woman wears
modern trappings on the stage, is that sne
practically can not move. Or course she
can walk, and perhaps she can fall in q
pleasan blocking faint, but as for being
graceful in high-heelsd shoes, with her
dress tied back as tightly as it will go, and
particularly with her sleeves so tight that
it is an lmpossibility for her to raise
her arms an inch, il simply can not
be done. Just imagine girls trying TO
embrace a big, brOad-shouldered lover or
husband, when TO save her life she could
not get Der elbows four inches from her
waist! How do you think it would come
out?''
IF you ask me-" was the answer, 81
should say be would have TO do the great
est part of the loving for himself"
Indeed, / should say as much"
Miss Vokes has, as every woman anxious
upon the subject knows, invented some
sort of divided skirt to wear when dane
ing, but no mortal woman has been able, /
fancy, to Judge from the descriptions
thereof, what manner of creation IL m "
be. In reality it is very simple. The
foundation garment is very like what Mrs.
Jenness Miller calls "leg-lettes" sort OF
silk trouser, wide and straight, reaching to
the ankle and hemmed. Just at the bend
of each knee kilt is Put on which falls
Just to the edge of the hem. 1t is
about two yards and a half around. but
killed in to Just the SIZE of the trouser and
stitched on. at the thigh another kilt of
equal width is stitched on, that one falling
over the first to the edge of the hem med
trouser. Standing erect in these four kits
it would be impossible for the keenest-
eyed woman to say that there was any
thing to it but very funny" full skirt.
Over this divided skirt is put another skirt
of the same material, but made in the
orthodox fashion and gathered to yolk
some five or six inches below the waist.
This reduces the amount of clothing over
the hips and around the waist to very few
tbiCknesses, while the limbs are kept as
al h Il,
OF course it goes without saying that il
makes the most absolutely modest dancing
dress that ever was known. The utmost
abandon, and most trying poses, may be
INDUCED in, and there is not even the least
tantiliziDg glimpse of a slender ankle to be
had. Only fascinating fro9frou OF silk
and lace.
At first Miss Vokes used her reformed
garment only on the stage, but afterwsrd,
having caught her heel in her petticoats
and nearly broken her neck in climbing
a fouz-in-hand coach on the other side, she
had some divided skirts made for walking
skirts and has used them ever since, tax
ing the greatest comfort in them and know
ing all the while that no matter what &C
cident befalls her she will never have the
discomfort of realizing that she has made
an unpleasant display of white lace anC
lawn.
This, in detail, is all there is to Mis-
Vokes' invention, and it seems TO me to b,
beautifully on the boundary line between
the wise of this modern tailor gown and thI
inappropriate and unbecomiDg dress-reforn
frock as we usually find il. 1t is not an ex
pensive innovation to make in ones ward
robe, and there are certainly times in al
women's lives in these days of coaching anC
trycycling and tennis when such garment,
would be invaluable. You can't trip uI
on petticoat like that, and you cam
catch your heel in it, two great point:
gained, as ] am sure every woman will ad